Credit: The Associated Press

Allison DiFilippo, left, and Samantha Donat, both of New York, react to a last-minute goal that put Portugal even with United States at the end of their 2014 World Cup Group G soccer match, while watching a large screen broadcast on Governor's Island in New York, Sunday, June 22, 2014.

NEW YORK — The United States' 2-2 World Cup draw with Portugal is almost certainly the most-watched soccer game ever in the U.S., an emphatic confirmation of the sport's rising popularity in a country slower to embrace it than the rest of the world.

The Nielsen company said that Sunday's gripping game was seen by an average of 24.7 million viewers on ESPN and Univision. That matches it with the 24.7 million U.S. viewers who watched the 2010 World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands.